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Police: Shooter had eight bullets in gun when he surrendered

Posted: Wednesday, March 07, 2001

By Ben FoxAssociated Press

SANTEE, Calif. -- The ''angry young man'' accused of killing two fellow students fired randomly and still had eight bullets in his gun when police cornered him in a school bathroom, investigators said Tuesday.

Friends said the scrawny 15-year-old freshman accused in the nation's latest high school bloodbath talked about his plans over the weekend, and they took him seriously enough to pat him down before classes started Monday.

One adult even warned Charles Andrew ''Andy'' Williams not to commit ''a Columbine,'' and tried to call the boy's father but didn't follow through. But no one is known to have reported the threats that preceded Monday's attack that also wounded 13 at Santana High.

During a news conference, authorities said the carnage could have been much worse if not for the swift actions of a sheriff's deputy and an off-duty police officer who was on campus to register his child in the school.

When Williams surrendered, his .22-caliber revolver was fully loaded with eight rounds, its hammer cocked, investigators said. He came to school with as many as 40 rounds, investigators said.

A mourner is comforted by friends at a grief-counseling center Tuesday in the aftermath of the killing of two students at Santana High School in Santee, Calif. The 15-year-old accused in the shooting was described Tuesday as an ''angry young man.'' Nick Ut/AP

''I do believe that if it had not been for the conduct of the people involved ... it would have been even worse,'' Sheriff Bill Kolender said.

The boy fired indiscriminately, sheriff's Lt. Jerry Lewis said. Most of the students hit were struck as they fled down a hallway between the school's library and administration office.

''The information we have from the evidence and the witnesses (is) the suspect was firing randomly at anybody who was going by,'' Lewis said. ''Any student who was going by he was shooting at.''

Authorities said the boy was cooperating in interviews but they could not shed further light on his possible motives.

Witnesses ''all said he was mad at something. We don't know if he was mad at the school, mad at students, made at life, mad at home,'' Lewis said. ''He was an angry young man.''

Although school was closed Tuesday, students, parents and others gathered outside to place flowers at a makeshift memorial site and grieve. The school is to reopen Wednesday to give students a chance to talk about Monday's shooting.

One victim, 18-year-old Barry Gibson, was released from a hospital Tuesday. Gibson told reporters he was hanging out with friends after economics class when he heard shooting coming from inside a nearby bathroom.

''I am pretty sure everyone, including myself, thought they were firecrackers,'' Gibson said as he hobbled on crutches at a community meeting.

During a counseling session at a church, an American Red Cross representative asked for a show of hands of people who had trouble sleeping the previous night. About a third of the 200 people indicated they did.

''You may just feel like your heart is beating all the time and you can't calm down,'' Robert Bray, a Red Cross disaster mental health worker, told the audience. ''I want to reassure you that people do get through this.''

As authorities dug into the case, they questioned how so many people could see the warning signs and fail to act.

''That's going to be haunting me for a long time,'' said Chris Reynolds, 29, who heard the threats and didn't report them.

Williams, held in a juvenile facility Tuesday, will be charged as an adult with murder, assault with a deadly weapon and gun possession, District Attorney Paul Pfingst said. The adult prosecution is mandatory under a ballot measure approved last year, and the boy could face multiple life terms. Arraignment was set for Wednesday.

Pfingst said the gun belonged to Williams' father, Charles, a lab technician at the Naval Medical Center-San Diego, since July. It had been stored in a locked cabinet, investigators said. Authorities said they removed seven rifles, a computer, a plastic crate filled with papers and files, and about a half dozen bags filled with evidence from the Williams' apartment.

Bryan Zuckor, 14, and 17-year-old Randy Gordon were killed; 11 other students and two adults -- a student teacher and a campus security worker -- were wounded. The injured remained hospitalized in good or fair condition.

The shooting happened Monday morning in this white, middle-class suburb of San Diego.

This article published in the Athens Daily News on Wednesday, March 7, 2001.